A while back I wrote about an interesting story of how, with the help of my fresh off the boat Swedish roomate, we effectively gave a cat an abortion, which according to some, she did not want. Because this damn blogging software does not make it easy for people to know if I respond to comments (note: recently fixed, click the box now), I wanted to revive this story so I can respond and defend myself because although it may not be clear from my original post I love cats and I feel I am getting a bad reputation from that post.
Author: Luke
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What the Country of Turkey does to my Dreams
While perusing the Aegean coast off the west coast of Turkey, I had this most interesting dream. The night before was mellow and filled with exotic foods which might have helped this to happen. Upon waking up I immediately had to write it down as it was too strange to forget and I had to make this blog as I think it might be a crucial insight into my psyche. I woke up with Charlie’s alarm and was not ready to have the dream finish but maybe it was for the better… (more…)
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Finger Nail Biting Habit (part 2)
It seems that my previous post about nail biting is the shining star on this blog. I understand there are some ghastly stories that would make any normal internet user shy away in dismay, but I had no idea it would be the nail biting entry that was the most popular. Well I intended to make the nail biting entries regular, however I concluded there just really wasn’t too much good stuff I could add other than pictures of my hands. But I have received some great comments and some pictures related to the first one which I think need to be addressed as well as the progress with my own nails.
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Handwritten letters hold a lot of weight
My family in England is so good about sending letters and disappointingly I have never reciprocated their efforts. I have always opted to use electronic methods which I argue allow me to convey a lot more information. But just like those elementary school valentines days when you were so happy to receive a hand written valentine from the cute girl in the class, I cant help but be ecstatic every time I get a hand written letter in the mail. Especially since now a days the mail generally only brings bad news of debts and bills and oppurtunities for trips to Vegas for ‘free’ or get another credit card.
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Quilmes Rock 2009 Buenos Aires: Radiohead
I am not a huge concert goer but I do thoroughly enjoy good music as well as putting myself into situations I will likely never be in again. A Radiohead concert in Buenos Aires seemed to fit the bill. I really had no expectations going into this and in fact was prepared to fly solo up until a few weeks ago when I found out that an ex classmate of mine also had tickets. (more…)
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Dustin’s 18th Birthday Present
For good or ill, gift giving amongst my male friends is not very good for birthdays, X-mas, anniversaries, halloween, or any other occasion that normally requires a gift to be given. As far as I am concerned this works out just fine as long as everybody agrees to not give gifts. The moment one guy decides to give a gift to someone then they have broken the unspoken agreement and we are all pretty much confused as to what to do the next time. This story is about my effort to try and confuse the hell out of all my guy friends by giving my good friend Dustin an 18th birthday gift.
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Laughter Across the Lake
It was close to the half way point during our Europe trip and we were all feeling a little weary. We needed a little rest and relaxation so we headed to Sweden. Sweden is mysteriously not included on the eurorail route but our method around that was to just not buy tickets. The only problem with this is that you are on a train with assigned seats and you will need to move maybe a dozen times or more during the trip from Denmark to Stockholm. This wouldn’t be so bad normally, as long as the people are friendly which they definitely are in Sweden, except for the fact that we had just slept in the park in Copenhagen playing a derivative of bat spin relay and
we were very tired and slightly perturbed every time someone woke us up. We did try to play a game of chess with a home made chess board and pieces out of paper which was ruined with a single cough. Or was it a sneeze?
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Haircut Bets
I have always had this desire to have a flowing mane of hair. Unfortunately with my genetics, that is becoming less likely with each passing day. I have heard that a males hair gene comes from the mothers father. In which case I am going to have a nice shiny head with a ring of hair wrapping the back and sides with outragesouly bushy eye brows. Interestingly, in the last few months I have had a random hair growing from my left eyebrow that is exceedingly long and a different color from the rest of my eyebrow hairs. If I pull it out, it grows back really quick so I choose to leave it in and tug on it in front of people to freak them out. But I digress… the following three part story is about my effort to force myself to grow really long hair.
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Your Honor
4247 Gorriti Capital Federal Buenos Aires ArgentinaYour Honor,
On October 22nd I made a stupid mistake on my bicycle. Of course I know that bicycles are supposed to ride in the same direction of traffic and of course I know that to run a stop sign on a bicycle is also illegal. The fact that I did both these things at the same time while holding a steady pace of 25mph+ at a crowded intersection in Costa Mesa while riding a bike with little to no brakes is flat out inexcusable. I am not writing to you now to try and argue my case with an elaborate poster drawing of the intersection, by no means. However I do require your help in the most direst of ways.
Officer Dibble seemed to be quite impressed with the rate of speed I could move around town while wearing sandals so he was kind enough to give me the choice between the two violations described above. Dibble was not aware of the cost for either ticket and since I had heard of someone getting a stop sign ticket before, I decided to try something new and go with the ticket described as …”Bicycle operation on roadway, same direction as motor vehicles.” In my opinion far less of a crime than flying into an intersection with blind corners and stray poodles with a bag of chicken bowl bouncing around your left wrist.
I went home and told my roommates about this situation and we argued about the cost and what I should have done. In the end a bet was made. I took the under on a $100 fine and my roommate took the over. Loser paid $100. Several weeks later the ticket came and it was for $118. Shit!
I intended to speak with you then regarding the cost of this fine however there was not enough time before I left for Argentina which is where I am now. I requested an extension online which was kindly given to me however it was only until February 22nd and I will not be back in the United States until May 1st. This deadline came and went and I have been recently sent a scanned image of a “FINAL NOTICE” going to collections type of letter unless I pay $453. I can understand the courts concern for my absence but there is no need to get testy with the fine. I was riding a bicycle and in turn helping our fine city become better. In fact I am tempted to say that you should be paying me money but that can wait for another time.
So in conclusion I am asking for one of two things:
- Can you extend the time it will take until my case is sent to your collections vendor to allow me to come visit you in person at the Harbor Justice center.
- Could you just reduce the fine to $99 and we can call everything settled. I am coming back from a 5 month trip through South America and have been on a fixed budget for a while. $453 could get me to Antarctica and back and that would be a very cool trip. You should come.
I look forward to hearing from you with your decision.
Sincerely and Respectfully,
Luke Ollett
